No long-term effect of behavioral treatment on psychotropic drug use for agitation in Alzheimer's disease patients

Myron F. Weiner, Rochelle E. Tractenberg, Mary Sano, Rebecca Logsdon, Linda Teri, Douglas Galasko, Anthony Gamst, Ron Thomas, Leon J. Thai

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

To determine if teaching caregivers behavior management techniques (BMTs) reduces long-term psychotropic use in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients, we examined 12-month follow-up data from a 4-month randomized study comparing placebo, BMTs, trazodone, and haloperidol for the treatment of agitated behaviors in persons with AD. After 4 months, treatment was allowed with any agent. Between 42.8% and 51% of AD patients received additional psychotropics between 4 and 12 months. The relative risk of being prescribed any psychotropic drug after the 4-month trial was at or about 1.0 for subjects in each drug arm or placebo arm versus BMTs. We concluded that teaching caregivers BMTs did not diminish long-term prescription of psychotropic drugs.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)95-98
Number of pages4
JournalJournal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology
Volume15
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 2002

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Clinical Neurology
  • Geriatrics and Gerontology
  • Psychiatry and Mental health

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